SCKT: Update on partner NCR Silver update from NCR cc call for 2Q
Part of all my projections in the past were based on NCR contributing heavily to scanner sales for Socket. I always wondered what had happened here----did customers just not integrate the scanner into their hardware?? (NCR Silver only uses the Socket scanner). Here's an update on NCR Silver from NCR's 2Q cc call:
As of right now, they only have 2000 customers, obviously way less than they had expected. (If I remember right, the estimate given during the Investor Presentation Day in June 2012 was for 50-100K for the whole of 2013.) This pretty much means that all the growth in scanner sales that Socket has exhibited have come from other partners and not NCR. The CEO did say that building up NCR Silver is the #1 focus for the company as they want to lock up small businesses with their platform before they permanently lose them to the competition. The process has been a learning experience and a lot of work has gone into the infrastructure behind the product but now is finally going to start to focus more on the sales aspect. In this regard he highlighted their distribution partnership with Vantiv (VNTV, $3.6B NYSE company), one of the largest payment processors in the industry (they are creating Vantiv Mobile Checkout that is powered by NCR Silver. The agreement was signed in mid May 2013). The CEO also said to look here soon for some other large distribution partnerships that will be coming and that they expect significant growth mid to long term for the platform. It was obvious from the CEO's additional comments that they don't want to miss out on the millions of small businesses that can be targeted here. If they start to perform, it'd be some nice incremental revenue for Socket going forward on top of the already expected growth.
